Since 1989, a Coast Day staple at the University of Delaware's Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes has been the annual Crab Cake Cook-Off.

It was the brainchild of Doris Hicks, a Seafood Technology Specialist with Delaware Sea Grant, who thought of the idea after it was suggested a cooking contest be a part of Coast Day.

"I think a lot of people like crab cakes," she said. "They're looking for new recipes, thinking they could enter next year. It's part of the love of seafood and the local seafood they can prepare at home or try at different restaurants."

The formula, for the most part, has remained the same. Each year, potential competitors submit recipes and Hicks and a group of readers choose the Top 8 based on the balance of ingredients or if there is something unique in it. The finalists make their recipes on Coast Day for a group of judges who evaluate based on originality, balance of crab meat, taste and texture.

In addition to a cash prize, the winner also gets to be a judge the following year.

"It really adds to the excitement of the event," she said. "People really want that spot."

To celebrate a quarter-century of crab cake cooking, a 25th anniversary Coast Day Crab Cake Cookbook will be for sale at Coast Day, featuring the first, second and third place winners since the cook-off began. A pdf will also be available, which will contain all the final recipes for the entirety of the contest.

2012 champion Bonnie Robinson from Seaford is returning to compete in this year's competition, bringing a new recipe to compete with. "Bonnie's Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes" will include tarragon, red bell pepper and chopped up fine onions.

Robinson was a judge in last year's competition, where she gained a bigger appreciation for crab cakes that stick together.

When she makes a crab cake, she wants to not have too much filling, but also make sure it stays together when it's fried. In her new recipe, she plans to use cream cheese to help bind the ingredients together.

Crab cakes are a family favorite at the Robinson household, and it's Panko bread crumbs that help do the trick.

"My family likes that satisfying crunch when you bite into the crab cake," she said.

Sarah Titus of Salisbury is no stranger to crab cookoffs, either. For nearly a decade, she has participated in Crisfield's annual Crab Cooking Contest, as part of the National Hard Crab Derby. For Coast Day, she is using her "Top Notch Crab Cakes" recipe, which is similar to the one which won her first place last year in Crisfield.

Like Robinson, Titus believes the key to a successful crab cake is to use little filler.

"I think the secret to my crab cake is I just don't use a lot of filler," she said. "I know everyone says that, but I don't. I use ground up Saltine crackers and very few of them."

After putting all the ingredients — including hot sauce, minced scallions, cilantro and dry Sherry to bring out the flavor of the crab — together, she'll put a little indentation at the top and drizzle a bit of melted butter and sprinkle some Old Bay on it before putting it in the broiler.

"I think it's less fattening, but we don't go for that when we're in a contest," she said. "We don't count the calories."